As the dust settles

What has been a long couple of weeks leading up to the EHE Trade Deadline for GM Stephen who was looking at all options to improve his team without mortgaging the future. 

Not only are the Calgary Flames in the hunt for a playoff  berth but so are the Calgary Wranglers. With both teams in the hunt GM Stephen wanted to keep both teams in tack. 

So back on May16th, GM Stephen and GM Adam struck a deal. Coming to Calgary was Cole Schwindt and 150k in return for a Dallas 2024 3^rd and little used forward Henry Bowlby. 

GM Stephen has had interest in Schwindt going back to his draft year where GM Stephen had drafted him however due to a pick mix up Schwindt ended up in Chicago instead. 

Bringing in Schwindt will help the Wranglers as he is able to play dual positions and can grow with the other Wranglers due to their similar age. 

After acquiring Schwindt, GM Stephen looked at the main roster to see were improvements could be made. GM Stephen realized he needed to bolster the bottom 6. So after reaching out to numerous GM’s, GM Stephen and GM Ryan of the New Jersey Devils completed a deal on May 27^th at 0130 in the morning. 

Going to New Jersey is Max Comtois and Mitchell Chaffee for veteran Patric Holmqvist and a 2024 5^th round pick. 

Comtois who was acquired from Colorado hasn’t fit in and was struggling. So moving the two guys allowed us to upgrade with the experience that Hornqvist brings. As for Chaffee, we weren’t bring him back so getting a 5^th rounder does help us down the road. What we like about Hornqvist is that he’s a complete player which we can move up and down the line. 

After getting some sleep Deadline day was upon us.  We tried to follow up on some old discussions with minimal luck. As the day went along it was clearly starting to look like the sellers weren’t sellers. Except Arizona, and the Rangers who made a couple of trades leading to or on deadline day. 

For the Wranglers GM Stephen went and pick up Scott Sabourin for 250k from the Coyotes.. The idea here is to give the Wranglers a little more leadership, size and toughness. 

Not long after that deal GM Stephen and the ever shrewdly skilled GM Martin of the New York Rangers restarted conversations on a player the Flames organization have been interested in all season. 

A player that Martin was asking a high price for that the Flames were unprepared to engage in. 

Luckily as the clock hit 15:00:00 and the horn was sounding. Player Tanner Jeannot was headed to Calgary for a 2^nd, 3^rd, cash, and prospect Ty Smilanic.

Not the step price that was originally asked for. 

What the Flames like about Jeannot aside from his contract is all the intangibles he brings. He can hit, fight, score and defend. He is very versatile and could see time on the top line and on the power play at some point. Another added bonus is Jeannot is signed for another year at a very reasonable 875,000 and will be an RFA at the end of it. 

Who knows when the EHE will see another buzzer beater deal like that. As the commissioner was heard saying “well…I said not one second more!! That’s AMAZING”

So what started as slow burner trade day ended with Commissioner Kevin yelling out AMAZING”

So with the moves made the Flames bottom 6 has been reshaped. With Kakko and MacTavish waiting to jump in when someone is have a down day. Or if things need to be mixed up. 

Mantha (70) – Goodrow (71) – Jeannot (71)

Watson (68) – Bellemare (70) – Hornqvist (70)

Kakko (66) MacTavish (66)

Welcome to Flames nation boys.